Satellite television has become increasingly popular due to its wide variety of programming. Current DirecTV systems employ an antenna that is fixed to a structure. The antenna is pointed once and secured into place. Typically a set top box includes a digital video recorder for recording various programs. To play the content on another television requires the physical movement of the set top box to another television. This is inconvenient and, thus, is hardly ever performed.
Portable media players have increased in popularity over the years. Portable media players record content, typically from the internet, for playback through the portable media device. An example of a portable media player includes an MP3 player. More recently, memory for such devices has increased while the cost of the memory has been reduced. Portable media players now are capable of storing and playing back video content recorded from the internet through a personal computer or the like.
Content on a digital video recorder is already in a digital format and, thus, it would be convenient for users to be able to use the stored content on a mobile or portable media player. However, it is desirable to prevent unauthorized use of the content stored on the portable or mobile media device.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for allowing satellite television video and audio files to be played back on a portable media player while protecting the rights of content owners and maintaining the integrity of the system.